I have a camping trip coming up next month and will be doing some hiking out to the Appalachian Trail in Georgia. Since I only have a few days to explore and take photos, I’ll be cramming in as much distance each day as I can. In this case, it will be a 9 mile hike to Springer Mountain, and then same trip back to the lodge at Amicalola Falls the following day. To prepare for this trip I’ve been doing some long walks on the weekends to get my …

While there may be some benefits to stretching, it occurred to me that stretching before a run apparently provides no advantage. There just seems to be an ever increasing amount of research-based evidence of this. As somebody who has always had issues with flexibility, this is of great interest to me. Should I continue working on flexibility? if I can’t reach my toes am I going to be a less effective runner?
I’ve run in a decent amount of 5k races, and the one thing that was consistent about them …

Few months back, I read an article from the NY Times about standing up while working. The concept of standing or walking on treadmills while working at an office is becoming more popular because of the potential health benefits that come with it. The general idea is that people who are more sedentary during their day are more likely to to suffer from poor health or obesity. As a web developer, I can confirm this from experience since most of my co-workers are overweight or out of shape. But, despite …

The human body is an absolute marvel of natural engineering. It is able to adapt and survive in almost every habitat on the planet, and is capable of performing some amazing feats of physical movement. Along with these accomplishments, the body is also highly adaptable physically, subtly changing its form to meet the demands of its owner and environment. I have often wondered to what extent the human body is anchored to its genetic blueprint, and how much of an individuals bodily composition is tied to their own chosen activities …

In my quest to try new things to keep my workouts fresh, I’ve discovered that hill sprints are a really exhausting, yet exhilarating exercise. Taking some advice from Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint to “sprint once in a while”, and some great examples from a fellow running blogger Jason Fitz, I’ve started incorporating hill sprinting into my workouts at home every weekend.
Now, I’ve run up hills before during races or during regular running training. I’ve also done sprint drills before as part of my workout routines. But, sprinting up a hill …